Biodiversity policy

Background

Public authorities who operate in England, including councils and local planning authorities, must consider what they can do to conserve and enhance biodiversity in England. This is the strengthened ‘biodiversity duty’ introduced by the Environment Act 2021.

This means that, as a public authority, they must:

• Consider what they can do to conserve and enhance biodiversity
• Agree policies and specific objectives based on their consideration
• Act to deliver their policies and achieve their objectives

Public authorities, including councils, must complete their first consideration of what action to take for biodiversity by 1 January 2024. Councils and local planning authorities (LPA) must also then publish a biodiversity report, no later than 1 January 2026.

As a public authority and LPA Wyre Forest District Council (WFDC) has a requirement to comply with the biodiversity duty introduced as part of the Environment Act 2021.

The operational services run by WFDC are varied and district wide, offering a variety of opportunities to meet our biodiversity duty.

Definition

According to Defra (Biodiversity 2020), biodiversity is the variety of all life on Earth. It includes all species of animals and plants – everything that is alive on our planet.

Biodiversity is everywhere, in gardens, fields, hedgerows, mountains rivers and the sea.

Biodiversity is important for its own sake and has its own intrinsic value.

A number of studies have shown this value also goes further. Biodiversity is the building block of our ‘ecosystems’ that in turn provide us with a wide range of goods and services that support our economic and social wellbeing. These include essentials such as food, fresh water and clean air, but also less obvious services such as protection from natural disasters, regulation of our climate, and purification of our water or pollination of our crops. Biodiversity also provides important cultural services, enriching our lives.

Wyre Forest as a district

As a district, Wyre Forest supports a variety of habitats across its open spaces, many being priority habitats and of national significance. Much of the district follows the valley of the Rivers Stour and Severn, supporting floodplain, wet woodland and marsh, while the sandy, low nutrient soils support lowland heath and lowland acidic grassland.

Aims

Creating a district where biodiversity can recover and thrive alongside our plan for a clean and safe environment.

• Conserve and enhance biodiversity on all WFDC land holdings through protection, restoration and sustainable management.
• Incorporate biodiversity considerations into the planning, design and maintenance of infrastructure and landscapes.
• Promote biodiversity education and awareness among the operational staff, fostering a culture of environmental stewardship.
• Support fostering collaborations and partnerships within the conservation community.
• Engage with local communities, stakeholders and conservation organisations to contribute to regional and global biodiversity conservation efforts.

Approach

Land/buildings should have a baseline recorded. Members of the countryside team or external resources could be utilised for this purpose.

Baseline for habitat, locations of protected species and other Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)/ Habitat Action Plan (HAP) should be recorded and the details fed into the management for each area.

These findings should then be revisited to enable accurate reports to be generated as outlined within the Government’s Biodiversity duty paper.

Operations

We should consider whether aspects of our day-to-day operations can be changed to protect and enhance our district’s biodiversity.

We could consider

• Pesticide use.
• Appropriateness of current maintenance regimes/practices.

Land holdings

Considerations could include, but are not limited to:

Nature Reserves

• Seek funding opportunities to sustainably manage the reserves for their biodiversity.
• Educate visitors to encourage sensitive site use.
• Seek opportunities to further improve biodiversity where possible.
• Management of non-native invasive species.
• Carry out public walks to highlight the wildlife of the area.

Parks/cemetery

• Management of non-native invasive species.
• Seek opportunities to improve biodiversity within our formal green open spaces. These can be in the form of pollinator friendly planting, areas of native planting, areas for pollinating insects to overwinter, standing dead wood, rough edge. Each of these features highlighted with high quality signage.
• Installation of decorative bee posts, bat boxes, bird boxes or similar.
• Educational activities run within parks/cemetery to highlight their importance for biodiversity, for example bat/moth nights.
• Consider if current management practices are causing harm to biodiversity, for example, timing for hedge cutting, herbicide spraying.

Verges

Most verges do not come under WFDC responsibility and there is an overriding health and safety issue regarding visibility alongside our vision of make the district a safe, vibrant and clean place to live, work and visit.

• We should endeavour to improve management where appropriate for biodiversity. This could mean cutting a narrower margin, leaving some areas uncut during peak invertebrate seasons.
• Look for the key biodiversity stepping stones to improve links between habitats.
• Seek other examples within the UK where biodiversity has been improved without compromising the ‘finish’.
• Seek partnerships with neighbouring authorities to establish a constant approach.

Buildings

• Our frontages can be utilised to raise awareness. Decorative bee posts, pollinator friendly planting, bat and bird boxes on buildings.
• Hedges maintained in a suitable condition for nesting birds, e.g. no gaps underneath or within, 1.5m high and 1.5m deep.

Car Parks

Native tree and pollinator friendly planting where possible. Highlight important features for wildlife such as the Stour corridor, River Severn and canal with interpretation panels to educate the public about wildlife corridors and the like.

References

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/complying-with-the-biodiversity-duty

https://www.treetonparishcouncil.gov.uk/downloads/download/7/policies

Biodiversity Action Programme for Wyre Forest District Council